Insecurity: Tinubu doing the right things, but it seems he is being frustrated
Why I cannot work with Atiku, El-Rufai, Amaechi, Aregbesola in ADC
By Adesuwa Tsan
The Labour Party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 Imo State election, Senator Athan Achonu, who represented Imo East in the Senate, has spoken on pressing national issues, including insecurity, the state of opposition politics in Nigeria, and his recent defection to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.
Speaking in this interview, Achonu said President Bola Tinubu appears to know the right steps to take on insecurity, but argued that forces within the system may be frustrating those efforts. He also explained why he left the Labour Party, why he supports the creation of Anioma State, and why he believes there is little difference between the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Insecurity and the Tinubu administration
In the last few weeks, it has been a tale of tears and sorrow, with communities coming under attack by terrorists, especially in Plateau, Zamfara and Kwara states. What advice would you give the Tinubu administration on addressing rising insecurity?
The president knows what to do, to be honest. He has been a governor twice and a senator, so he is not a stranger to governance. That is why he went to court. He planned himself very well. I do not know what is weighing him down or what exactly he is afraid of.
He first secured a judgment on local government autonomy, then went ahead to remove fuel subsidy so that more money would be available in the system to help local governments do their jobs. He also intentionally created forest guards. He is a smart man and knows what he is doing, but the implication of all this is what I do not understand.
He has taken the right steps. He created forest guards rather than state police because he knows security is local. Every crime is local. These forest guards are supposed to work with local governments, Divisional Police Officers and the DSS in local and rural areas to secure those communities. But nothing appears to be happening. It is as if he is being frustrated.
That is why I said they should look into the leadership of the Progressive Governors Forum. That is where the danger lies. They may be up to something. Only God knows what exactly, but it seems they are frustrating every effort of this president to govern the country effectively.
Look at the amount of money flowing into the system. Everybody is shouting Tinubu, Tinubu, but what about the money being shared every month to governors and local governments? Where is it going?
I think insecurity has become a business. Every time people are kidnapped, governors come in and settle with billions of naira. There are rumours that the money is shared. That is why it continues. It has become lucrative.
So the president should also look into that. I am tired of saying the same things. I have kept insisting that the president should act. He really needs to do so.
Also, in countries such as South Africa and the United States, there are private security companies licensed to carry arms. Once that is allowed, the police officers currently tied down providing security for government agencies, businessmen and multinationals can be released to strengthen public security, while licensed private firms handle protection for private individuals and corporations. That is what obtains in other parts of the world.
Nnamdi Kanu and the South-East
In the South-East, there has been uneasy calm over the continued detention and sentencing issues surrounding the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu. What is your position?
This is one issue on which I cannot justify Tinubu’s silence. I do not understand why Nnamdi Kanu has not been released up till now. What exactly did he do? Maybe he used foul language, but he is not the one carrying out the killings. He never asked anybody to kill.
In fact, the young man said to be behind some of the killings is reportedly living in Finland, and government knew about it, yet nothing was done. Is Kanu being punished simply because of the things he said about Buhari? That looks personal.
If they say he committed an offence, then let them pardon him. Others have been pardoned. Igboho has been treated with leniency. Meanwhile, terrorists who have killed people, destroyed villages, murdered innocent mothers and children, and carried out kidnappings are sometimes captured, released, rehabilitated and even absorbed into the security structure. What kind of country are we running?
Is it because he is Igbo? Tinubu should do something about this matter. It would calm frayed nerves in the South-East. Let him release Nnamdi Kanu and he will have our support.
Why he supports Anioma State
One of the major demands in the South-East at the moment is the creation of an additional state. Leaders of the National Assembly have said this could be addressed through constitutional amendment. Among the proposals, you have expressed support for Anioma State. Why?
There are many Igbos who are not properly accommodated within the present South-East configuration. In fact, a large number of people in Delta State are Igbo and should naturally be part of the South-East.
That is why I support Anioma State. Let those people first be brought into the South-East. Later, we can address others in places like Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom and bring them back into the fold. There are also Igbo populations in Benue and Kogi. We should be together, just as the Yoruba are together. Anioma State will help bring those people effectively into the fold.
Why he left the Labour Party for APGA
You recently announced your defection from the Labour Party to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. Can you explain the reasons behind that decision?
I was not comfortable with the structure of the Labour Party. The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has too much influence over the party. I am not comfortable with that. I am also not satisfied with the NLC’s attitude toward protecting the broader interests of workers and ordinary Nigerians. Once you protect Nigerian workers, you are protecting the Nigerian people, the common man.
The NLC is in cahoots with the government. They are working with the government. If they are working with the government, then the Labour Party cannot truly be independent.
I did not know all this before I joined. It was only when the crisis broke out that I fully understood the depth of the problem. But by then it was already too late. I had bought the form to contest the governorship, so I stayed on and continued with my ambition.
When the crisis erupted, I tried my best to stabilise the party. I advised Peter Obi, I advised Alex Otti, and I advised Julius Abure that they should find a way to accommodate one another and make peace.
I even circulated a letter in the party telling them that the executive is like the shell of the human body, while the organs and intestines are like the stakeholders, and one cannot function without the other. I appealed to them to reconcile. This was a party that was supposed to win the presidential election, so why was it fighting itself? I begged, but nobody listened.
With the NLC on one side and party crisis on the other, I could not remain in such a structure. I want a party where every member is a co-owner, where once you join, you have a stake. Not a situation where somebody effectively owns 51 per cent and others are treated like passengers.
That was how I saw the Labour Party. I lost confidence in it and began to look elsewhere.
Originally, I supported the registration of APGA when it first came on the scene. I was in the PDP then, but I saw APGA as a platform through which South-Easterners could come together and negotiate power, much in the same way Tinubu used the Action Congress, AC, to build alliances and eventually take power.
That is what APGA should have done long ago. I hope Governor Soludo can still realise that vision. His posture is not bad, and I hope he can achieve something meaningful before leaving office. I am ready to support him in any way I can.
Why he rejects ADC
With the ADC and others trying to build an opposition coalition, do you think any opposition platform can stop Tinubu from securing a second term in 2027?
People have asked me why I did not join the ADC. My answer is simple: this is Nigeria. Look at the people in the ADC. How different are they from those in the APC?
Is it El-Rufai? Or Malami, under whose watch somebody in my state moved from fourth position to number one and became governor after losing an election?
Is it Rauf Aregbesola, who was Minister of Interior when the borders were porous and terrorists were coming in?
Is it Atiku? Atiku has hardly condemned the killings in Nigeria. The only time he did, Islamists challenged him and he quickly took the post down.
Is it because Peter Obi is there? I did not join the Labour Party because of Peter Obi alone. I joined because I believed it was a clean party. Alex Otti was there. Peter Obi was there. Datti was there, and he is a man I respect a great deal. At that time, it looked like a clean platform.
But ADC is not a party I can join. Or is it Amaechi? He was Minister of Transport for eight years and took the rail line to Maradi, but did not bring any meaningful rail infrastructure to Imo State or even Rivers State, where he comes from and where he once served as governor for eight years.
So, those are not the kind of people I can associate with politically.
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE 
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